Image: City of NY balloon

Description: Thaddeus S. C. Lowe's gas balloon City of New York, built in 1859 at Hoboken, New Jersey in which Lowe proposed to make the trans-Atlantik voyage. Diameter 130 feet, height from boat to valve 200 feet, gas capacity 725,000 cubic feet, lifting power 22 1/2 tons, gondola accomodation capacity 6 persons, equipment included a Francis metallic lifeboat, named Leontine in honor to Mrs. Lowe, suspended under the gondola by two fixed ladders and carrying hand-driven propeller and sails, parachutes for dropping mail and messages, drags, anchors, buoys, sounding line and windlass, meteorological, nautical and navigating instruments, heating apparatus, lanterns, signal lights, and a large supply of provisions (See F. Stansbury Haydon: Military Ballooning During the Early Civil War, JHU Press, 2000, p. 157ff [1]).
Title: City of NY balloon
Credit: Altadena Historical Society
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No